Welcome to the Old Town of Tallinn

This site is dedicated to my home town's, Tallinn's oldest and the most beautiful part, the Old Town. If you want to know more about Estonia's capital, then you've come to the right place. It's easy to fall in love with all the exquisite red roofs of the Old Town. I hope you'll enjoy the time you spend on visiting my website and that you'll find it useful..

Tallinn was first mentioned already in 1154 by an Arab geographer, Al-Idrisi. The first traces of habitation reach back to about the second millennium before Jesus Christ, but by the 10^th century Tallinn had already become an important trading town known in Scandinavia as well as in Russia. Tallinn isnt only the biggest town of the country, but also the most important port and cultural centre. Its other names are Reval (as the ancient county name was Reval) and Kolõvan. The name Tallinn probably comes from the Estonian words "Taani" (Denmark) and "linn" (town), because Tallinn was invaded by the Danes in the beginning of the 13th century. In the 13th century Tallinn also became a member of the Hanseatic League. During the coming few centuries after that Estonias capital was a very important trading town both for Scandinavian and German towns and also had good relations with Novgorod, at the time a democratic town in Russia. The Hanseatic League was one of the largest networks connecting German trading towns. This was the first time of prosperity for Tallinn. The main merchandise that went through Tallinn was salt. It was in fact so important that it is said that Tallinn was built on salt.

The Old Town has belonged to the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1997 and is one of the best preserved in the entire world. The structure dating back to the 11^th and 15^th century has remained pretty unchanged.

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